Senior Amateur basks in sun

Posted: Sunday, July 24, 2005

By WILL MORROWPeninsula Clarion

While many golfers groused about their scoring on the second day of the Peninsula Senior Amateur Grainge Memorial Golf Tournament, they couldn't complain about the weather. Most still enjoyed the two days of sunshine on Thursday and Friday and the well-kept greens at Birch Ridge Golf Course.

"The weather was perfect both days, and today was awesome, awesome, awesome," said John Davis, one of nine golfers  of the 29 entered in the tournament  to shoot better in round two than in round one.

Davis followed his first-round 97 with a second-round 92 for a 36-hole score of 189, and with his handicap, took first place in the Master's Flight with a net score of 141.

Davis' 141 also stood up as the men's overall low net score for the tournament. In the men's Championship Flight, Mo Redford and Bill Burtram went to a sudden-death playoff as both players finished at 168. Redford won on the third hole of the playoff. While his net score of 140 was lowest among the men, Redford was not eligible to win both awards, leaving Davis in line for the low net prize.

In the Women's Flight, Chiya Bazan proved one of the most consistent golfers in the field, putting up back-to-back 89s to win the women's gross scoring title by 19 strokes.

In the Junior Senior flight, Billy Applewhite shot a 36-hole score of 163 for the top gross score of the tournament.

"I had a good front nine, but I had three double-bogeys on the back," Applewhite said of his round. "The course is in great shape, the greens are great, Tom (Walsh, the Birch Ridge golf pro) did a great job. I think the course was fair to everybody. I was lucky to win."

Davis said that while it's fun to play in a tournament, the competition can also cause a golfer to tighten up  something that doesn't help a golfer's swing, which needs to be loose and smooth.

"I didn't even golf my handicap (Thursday)," Davis said. "I beat my handicap today, but yesterday I was three long. If I had golfed the same as today, I would have had a really good score."

Still, Davis said it was enjoyable to get the competitive juices flowing.

"It's a great bunch of guys and gals. Everybody knows everybody, for the most part," Davis said. "... Everybody's rooting for the other guy  hoping he comes in second."